The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders via shootout, 1-0 (1-0), at UBS Arena on Saturday evening. Both Samuel Ersson (25 saves) and Ilya Sorokin (40 saves) were credited with shutouts.
Tyson Foerster, who had six shots on goal and 11 shot attempts in the game, notched the only goal of the shootout.
After giving up a number of high-danger scoring chances to the Rangers on Friday, the Flyers tightened things up noticeably against the Islanders. They maintained better gaps, backchecked diligently and had more consistent puck support. Ersson took care of the rest.
In the first period, New York had the territorial edge for the opening five minutes, but Philly took over thereafter. A fairly even second period likewise also ended without a goal from either club. Both teams had chances in the third period and overtime but could not solve Ersson or Sorokin in the shootout:
1st round: Bo Horvat was stopped by Ersson's right pad. Cam Atkinson was stopped on a backhand attempt.
2nd round: Oliver Wahlstrom was denied by an Ersson glove save. Sean Couturier attempted the "Martin St. Louis move" that he used to convert a penalty shot attempt earlier this season, but Sorokin stopped him.
3rd round: Mathew Barzal was stopped in close by Ersson's left pad. Sorokin stopped Frost's favorite shootout move (swing left slowly, move diagonally right and look for the top far side corner) with a glove save.
4th round: Kyle Palmieri couldn't get off a shot attempt as he neared the net. Foerster scored with a low glove-side shot to end the game.
During regulation, the Flyers went 0-for-1 on the power play. The Islanders went 0-for-3 and were held without a single shot on goal.
After missing the first 20 games of the season due to injury, Rasmus Ristolainen (17:49 TOI, three shots, three hits, two blocks) returned to the Flyers' lineup. Frost (three shots on goal, three blocked shots, one credited takeaway) re-entered the Flyers lineup on Saturday, after being scratched in each of the three previous games. Bobby Brink exited the lineup.
FLYERS STARTING LINEUP
71 Tyson Foerster - 14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
74 Owen Tippett - 48 Morgan Frost - 89 Cam Atkinson
86 Joel Farabee - 26 Ryan Poehling - 27 Noah Cates
44 Nick Deslauriers - 21 Scott Laughton - 19 Garnet Hathaway
8 Cam York - 6 Travis Sanheim
24 Nick Seeler - 26 Sean Walker
18 Marc Staal - 5 Egor Zamula
33 Samuel Ersson
[79 Carter Hart]
TURNING POINT
The most sustained New York pressure came early in the first period. The Flyers stabilized the play and then were the better team for most of the game thereafter. Obviously, the ultimate turning point came as Foerster scored the only goal of the shootout after 65 scoreless minutes of hockey.
POSTGAME 5
1) The Islanders quickly piled up four shots in the game's first three minutes. The Islanders had a bang-bang chance for Ryan Pulock off of an offensive left circle faceoff on the game's first shift. At 4:49, Konecny blocked a Scott Mayfied shot attempt out of play. Two of the Flyers first three shot attempts (both by Foerster) were blocked and the other (Couturier missed the net).
At 6:50, after a Walker point shot went on net, Poehling attempted to follow up on a rebound. Poehling won the ensuing faceoff and, a few seconds later, Farabee had a scoring opportunity.
After the Flyers won a pair of battles in the New York zone, Couturier had a look from center slot off a pass-out by Konecny.
On his next shift, playing right wing, Cates had a good forechecking sequence as the Poehling line generated possession in the New York end.
The Islanders went on the game's first power play at 9:46 as Poehling was called for tripping Noah Dobson while forechecking behind the New York net. Philly shut down the Isles' power play without allowing any shots on goal
Frost put a pass toward the net from the left boards. It went off defenseman Alexander Ramanov toward Tippett. Sorokin covered. Frost was credited with a shot on goal.
Cates turned in another strong shift, winning a pair of puck battles. The Poehling line spent the shift in the Islanders' end again. Poehling had a scoring chance.
2) After the Islander had the game's first six shots on goal, Philly piled up each of the next 12. Shot attempts were 19-19. Scoring chances were 9-5 Flyers with a 4-2 high danger edge to the Flyers. Faceoffs were 12-10 Islanders (Frost led the Flyers at 3-for-3, Casey Cizikas went 4-for-5 for New York).
3) Cates painfully blocked a shot and hobbled to the bench on his first shift of the second period. He was OK for his next shift. At 2:19 into the period, a Hathaway opportunity from the right slot was blocked.
After a dump-in by Walker, Frost retrieved it behind the net and set up a look for Walker with Foerster there if there'd been a rebound. Frost skated this shift with Konecny and Foerster on the wings.
Couturier, skating with Tippett and Atkinson, generated some additional possession for the Flyers and it carried over into a shift for the fourth line. Through 5:37, second period shots on goal were 3-2 Flyers.
At 6:45, after Walker made an ill-advised play on the wall, Nelson had the Islanders first significant look at the net since early in the opening period.
Frost had an outstanding shift at both ends of the ice, with a good place in tight space and, later, a tricky deflection of a point shot on net at one end. At the other, he had a defensive zone takeaway. Shortly thereafter, Tippett powered the puck to the net. Sorokin stopped both Frost and TIppett.
After a giveaway by Staal on a D-to-D pass, Ersson made a clutch save with 7:06 left in the second period, the goalie denied Bo Horvat from the doorstep.
The Islanders went to their second power play at 14:24 as Ristolainen was called for tripping Lee after they tangled on the boards. Philly again staged a strong kill. With play back at five-on-five, Foerster and Frost had shots blocked on an otherwise strong shift.
After a lengthy delayed call, the whistle blew with 3.4 seconds on the clock. Walker was called for high-sticking Palmieri. Foerster blocked a shot during the delayed penalty. New York took 1:57 of carryover power time into the third period.
4) Second period shots on goal were 11-10 Flyers (23-16 Flyers overall). Shot attempts were 23-17 Flyers (30-22 Flyers overall). Scoring chances were 8-7 Flyers (18-13 Flyers overall) with an even 3-3 split in high-danger chances (8-5 Flyers overall). Faceoffs were 10-6 Islanders (22-16 Islanders overall, led by Couturier at 5-for-8 and New York's J-G Pageau at 9-for-13). Through two periods, the Islanders had blocked 12 Flyers shots (led by Grant Hutton with five blocks) while Philly had 13 blocked (led by two apiece from Staal and Frost).
5) Konecny had a takeaway and a backhanded shorthanded scoring try on the first half of the carryover penalty kill. The rest of the kill was strong, too. Right after the Walker penalty expired, Ersson made a tough stop on Julien Gauthier.
At 2:33 of the third period, Farabee put a puck toward the net from the left boards. Foerster couldn't quite get to the rebound.
Philly finally got their first power play at 5:05 as a strong shift by the Couturier line ended with an interference penalty on Romanov against Foerster. The Flyers generated two looks from the flank (Foerster from Frost) and near the net but couldn't score on any of their three shots on goal.
Pierre Engvall put a shot on net from the top of the left circle. Ersson made his 17th save of the night. He also came up with a point shot off the ensuing faceoff. On the next shift, Farabee had a near miss on a give-and-go with Poehling.
Midway through the third period, shots on goal were 10-4 Flyers.
Good keeps by Walker and Seeler created an eventual chance for Farabee. Sorokin made his 35th save of the night. At the other end, Ersson fought off a drive from Horvat.
The Islanders had two chances in the waning seconds of regulation. Ersson stopped one with the glove. Konecny sacrificed his body and blocked the other.
Third period shots on goal were 12-6 Flyers (37-21 Flyers through regulation). Shot attempts were 25-19 Flyers (72-54 Flyers through 60 minutes). Scoring chances were 11-8 Flyers (30-21 Flyers overall). High-danger chances were 4-2 Flyers (12-8 Flyers overall per Natural Stat Trick).
In the opening 30 seconds of overtime, Holmström and Sanheim traded off chances at either end. Subsequently, Sorokin stopped a shot from Konecny off a lead pass from Sanheim. Ersson made two- game-saving stops on Horvat and Barzal. Late in overtiime, Walker and Atkinson fired shots on net. Overtime shots were 4-3 Flyers. Scoring chances were 7-6 Islanders but Philly had a 4-1 high-danger edge.
